Sarah Schuch | Clio MessengerA home on Linden Road in Vienna Township has had two sewer line breaks within two weeks, which follows the trend of breaks in a subdivision on Linden and Wilson roads. The breaks are believed to be the result of faulty plastic pipes installed about 40 years ago, township officials say.

VIENNA TOWNSHIP, Michigan -- A subdivision off Linden and Wilson roads has experienced more problems with sewer lines breaking in the past few months than Vienna Township usually experiences in a year.

The township must now make a decision to either pay to fix the rest of the lines that look weak or wait to see if any more break.

So far, five sewer lines have broken in the past few months where the township usually averages two a year, said Township Supervisor Nancy Belill.

The problem lies in the sewer lines that were installed about 40 years ago and were thought to be made of the newest and best plastic, Belill said.

"(Now) 40 years later, we are paying for it," Belill said. "(The decision) is a roll of the dice. You never know (what will happen)."

A home on Linden Road already has had two breaks within two weeks. The first one required the yard to be dug up, and the driveway fell victim during the second dig.

The problems began with sink holes found in the yard, one being more than 3 feet wide and 2 feet deep.

Last week another sink hole looked like it may be forming.

The township may send a camera into the sewer lines to check out the rest of them, Belill said, because this could be just the beginning. It's going to cost the township more to continue to have to dig and repair the broken lines than to go and redo them all now.

There is money in the sewer and water accounts to do some repairs, said Township Treasurer Paul Luttenbacher.

Unfortunately, with the sewer system aging, the people who use it will have to pay a rate that will help maintain that system, he said.

"We are probably going to have to increase the sewer rates," Luttenbacher said. "It will only get worse."

No decisions will be made on a rate increase, though, until the board discusses it and gets more input, he said.

Vienna Township Superintendent Bob Palmer said this subdivision has a different kind of pipe than most, and he has concerns on the long-term viability of the pipe.

He also suggested to send in a camera and fix the joints that look weak and attach a metal sleeve, he said.

"You can fix 10 joints for what it would cost to dig one pipe up," Palmer said.

But there are thousands of pipes, he said, and he has no idea how many are weak.

Once a sewer pipe breaks, it costs around $5,000 to dig up the pipes, replace everything and then fix the yard, he said.

No digging would be involved to re-sleeve the existing sewer lines, because a long, thin rod is sent in to the pipe and a metal sleeve will be glued to the pipe through that process.

As far as Belill knows, subdivision at Linden and Wilson is the only one in the area that used the specific kind of plastic.

But with recent rains it is possible that when the water sat there for a few days that it turned a small gap in a pipe into a large gap, Palmer said.

It still doesn't make sense to Palmer that there was this many breaks in such a short period of time, he said. A camera was sent into the lines last year and nothing to this extent was found to be wrong.

"It just seems wrong that we are having that many breaks," he said. "My opinion is if the board can find a way to fund it, I'm going to go through and fix the joints (that need it)."

The third option is to completely repair all pipes, Palmer said. But that could cost half a million dollars.